The printing industry is rapidly adopting automated workflow processes, including processes that allow customers to electronically submit documents for inclusion into print publications or to be printed. The Internet has accelerated this process by allowing users to submit electronic documents to a printing company web site or a publisher's web site, via a browser.
Prepress refers to the production process before ink or toner goes on the paper. Electronic prepress refers to production methods involving desktop publishing, scanning of artwork or photos, film output or plate output from an imagesetter, or direct to print production. Automated workflow processes use electronic prepress. Preflight is an operation in electronic prepress wherein a supplied electronic file is evaluated to determine if all of the elements necessary to print from it are included and useable. In an automated workflow process, preflight is performed by a computer program that evaluates the file and advises of possible problems in a preflight report.
In one conventional (prior art) preflight process performed by ColorQuick.com, L.L.C., Pennsauken, N.J., the preflight report indicates if the page size of the submitted document does not match the allocated space for the printed version of the document. For example, if a customer submits an electronic file of an advertisement that has a page size of 7 in×10 in, but the customer's publication advertisement size (i.e., the advertisement space that the customer has purchased) is 6.5 in×9.5 in, then the preflight report indicates that the file must be corrected and sent in again. Manual intervention is now required to address the problem. The publisher must inform the customer of the size problem and the customer must rework the advertisement. The reworked advertisement must be resubmitted and rerun through the preflight process. If the customer is not careful in resizing the advertisement, the reworked advertisement could be rejected as well.
The electronic document printing process used by commercial printers and service providers is rapidly moving towards using documents that are defined by a page description language, such as Adobe® PostScript® defined by .ps files, PDF (Portable Document Format, also from Adobe) defined by .pdf files, and PCL (Printer Control Language, an Hewlett-Packard format) defined by .pcl files. A page description language (PDL) is a computer language that defines how elements such as text and graphics appear on the printed page (i.e., the layout and contents of a printed page). PostScript is the industry-standard PDL. Detailed explanations of the Adobe PDL's and how they are used in a printing environment are provided in the following publications:    “PDF for Prepress Workflow and Document Delivery,” Adobe Systems Inc., San Jose, Calif., 1997, 8 pages.    “Preparing Adobe® PDF files for high-resolution printing,” Adobe Systems Inc., San Jose, Calif., 1998, 12 pages.
Many programming tools for image processing of PDL-defined images are complex and expensive. Special programs, such as Adobe Acrobat®, must be used to manipulate PDL-defined images. To promote proprietary formats, companies such as Adobe distribute free software that allows users to read the image files, but require a paid license for versions of the software that allow for manipulating the image files. Even if parties at both ends of a workflow process (e.g., a commercial printer and a customer) have access to read and edit versions of such software, the two parties can only view and edit the files within the designated format using the proprietary software.
Furthermore, no convenient methods exist to visually and interactively append production specifications to PDL-defined images.
As the printing industry moves towards automating customer interactions, additional tools are needed so that customers can more easily interact with their printing jobs within an automated environment when changes must be made to their files. The present invention fulfills such a need.